UKC

I'm lucky enough to be going to Pabbay/Mingulay in June, and planning ahead.

I've never done anything like this (Lundy 2003 was v civilised in comparison). Any suggestions for meals and comfort there?

We will be there 7 or 8 nights. I was planning on museli in a protein shake for breakfast, tinned soups, pasta, dried salami, cheese, fresh fruit and veg for as long as they last, tinned tuna, boiled eggs.

What is best alternative to milk, as having black tea is the most uncivilised thing in the world. Black coffee instead or best milk substitute?

Any other things we must remember to bring. A spade for toileting? Bin bags I guess as will be taking it all back to barra.

Have you considered freeze dried meals? They are quite good, very varied and require no washing up. I love them but I am very lazy and have more money than sense. Otherwise luxury snacking items like chocolate, nuts, jerky and dried fruit have got me through long trips away from shops

Dried milk works well, best is probably a personal preference.

Surely UHT milk, or is that too heavy? Comes in resealable cartons. 

I once heard a story about someone who turned up with just a fishing rod, there are only a few thousand seals to compete with so I reckon that’s a pretty good plan.

Standard backpacking fare would be best, I expect. I'd usually go with something like:

Breakfast: make your own packaged oat breakfast (base it on oat-so-simples but work on the basis that x4 sachets will make a decent breakfast for a growing lad). Powdered milk, dried berries, chia seeds, nuts, etc. can go into individual ziplocks. In the morning you just boil up your water and chuck it in. I made a pot-cozy out of some reflectix, which means all I have to do is get the water to boil then chuck the oats in and turn the gas off. Bung it in the cozy and in 10 mins it will be perfec.

Dinner: tortillas with peanut butter or cheese, nuts, dried meats if you eat beasts, that kind of thing. I like cheddar and anything crunchy like bombay mix or doritos in a tortilla but I'm frequently laughed at for eating the driest food imaginable. I guess chuck some siracha in there too, if you need to moisten things up.

Tea: dehydrated flavoured rice or couscous, add some quinoa, dried meat/soya curls. Dehydrated flavoured pasta. A really good stodgy filling one, if you feel like you've earned it, is Idahoan flavoured mash with flavoured tuna mixed in (try get the 'toppers' that come in sachets rather than tins, as tins will be a pig to carry in and out).

As a vegetarian, I did ponder on the wisdom of someone taking dead fish, to an island surrounded by live fish. Would this not be an ideal time to live off the land, erm, sea, as it were. Adding some excitement and variability to the day?

I've been a few times and never bothered with freeze dried meals. That said, I've been on a couple of longer trips since my last Hebrides trip where we ate quite a few freeze dried meals and found them pretty decent:

https://basecampfood.com/

The Real Turmat ones were tasty, and 

https://lyofood.com/collections/main-meals  are also good. The Decathlon ones are a bit grim....   If I were going agina I'd maybe take 2 of those as backup / quick meals if you end up having a massive day or stuck a few days longer than expected...

I find on Pabbay/Mingulay trips you actually have quote a lot of a time in the evenings so it can be nice (if you like cooking!) to actually take proper fresh ingredients and do some nice food. Daal, chickpea and chorizo stew, burritos are all good.

Fishing can be hit and miss. I've never caught a fish out there, but on some trips I've heard they hoiked so many pollock out that they were getting bored of it by the end!

No spades for toileting - the recommendation is now to do it below high water mark and burn the paper.

You can actually take a pretty decent load out to the islands as the walk is not far, so no need to be "superlight".

Or in individual sachets, eg Lakeland

I tried once and the seals were pretty good at stealing the catch as reeling in...

To the OP, as said above, weight isn't as much of an issue as a backpacking trip so no need to go too light. Only limit is how much you can carry the 100m to the ferry from the terminal...

My preference is generally fresh pasta and a mix of different sauces and additives (chorizo, cheese, peppers, mushrooms...etc)

Oatmilk can keep better without refrigeration than milk. 

Am a fully shamed fan of a good few packs of super noodles for every exped. Pop em in a wee pan and some water, and a few mins later you have tasty food., I sometimes additionally cut up some tofu and add to them for protein. (keep the tofu in some water in a tupperware)

If you are making meals for any reason, spices such as paprika, salt pepper etc can make anything bland and disgusting taste better.

I wish instant tea sachets with sugar and milk were a thing as they are with coffee, as it would also make my life a lot easier Lol

Also, you have a chance to stop in barra itself, you can buy any forgotten bits in the shop in castlebay. 

Im not sure how long boiled eggs will last out of a fridge though. I would take some and hardboil a few at a time, boiling seems to weaken the protective membranes on them.

Try to camp somewhere a little exposed, as anywhere too sheltered can be a midge magnet! Also decent tent pegs are a must if the forecast is anything more than 10mph ofc

And also make sure everyone knows how to contact the boat person incase of emergency etc

I'm based in Harris, so any hebridean specific questions you can pop over to me!

Apologies for the ramble

Beer and whisky

I've only been for a day trip but if your going by charter boat wouldn't weight be of little consequence. You have the Coop in Castlebay which is handy before you go.

Dehydrators can be bought pretty cheap. I've experimented with dehydrated dals and bolognese. As long as you use minimal oil it works pretty well (especially red lentil dals). Takes longer to rehydrate than freeze dried meals but are much cheaper. If using beef get a lean mince fry it up with minimal oil then rinse it through with boiling water (removes more of the fat/oil) then add it to the bolognese as normal.

Chicken dishes can also be deyhdrates but you'll want pressure cook the chicked or it won't rehydrate properly iirc. Beef jerky is another option and dehydrated no fat sponge cake chunks can be a decent dessert when rehydrated in warm water then mixed with custard powder.

For breakfasts I usually bag up porridge, 1tbsp dry skimmed milk, 1tbsp brown sugar and a hand full of rasisns. For Lunches Logan Bread is a favourite of ours - sort of long life fruite cake/bread with loads of nuts, fruit and oil, their are no end of recipes online.

Not really, because weight isn't really an issue. You can take pretty decent food. The only real issue is perishability and stuff bursting when chucked on and off the boat and so on.

We were on Pabbay a couple of years ago. Most of us packed a mixture of normal food and dehydrated meals, the ones from Mountain Trails are pretty good (https://www.mountaintrails.org.uk/). Other bits and pieces included: shelf stable tortellini, BabyBels, chorizo, cracker breads and oatcakes, long life hummus, tinned fish. Like others have done, we mainly had chocolate, nuts and jerky for snacks, electrolyte tabs in case it gets scorchio. One chap brought 24 eggs in a La Sportiva shoebox that he carried in a little drawstring pack all the way from Oban to Pabbay - all survived the journey! And we packed two loaf cakes along with us to celebrate someone's birthday at the end of the trip. Definitely bring more than you need - a storm blew in and we were stuck a few days longer than planned. Before we left Oban I'd bought sugar snaps, a head of broccoli and oranges and worked through these over five days or so - boil broccoli or sugar snaps in the water that you use for a dehydrated meal, to save on fuel. It wasn't too hot in the first few days so food didn't go off quickly. Hope this helps.

I tried to go for things that you only need to add hot water too, to save washing up. In contrast to the guy who took a frying pan and had a greasy fry up every breakfast and dinner for as long as his suppy of steak, sausage and bacon lasted! To be fair he never actually cleaned the frying pan.

With cous cous you can just add water in the bowl. Bags of microwave pasta and rice also boil in the bag very well, same with sachets of pasta sauce, stir fry sauce etc. Just boil it all in their bags and chuck it in a bowl with veg and cooked meat etc, no sticky pans to clean.

For milk a mate and I took a few 1 litre cartons of UHT each and shared them. A litre only lasts about 2 days with 2 people having cereal and tea/coffee. Once open it will keep for that time if kept in the shade, or in a bucket of water.

Spade for toileting. Someone mentioned above about going below the high tide line. As far as our group understood it, and the group before us, you go below the high tide line but you still dig it a shallow grave.

For comfort make sure someone in the group takes a big tent that everyone can fit in, good for when the weather is grim and much more sociable than sitting in your own tent. I also took a 3 man tent for myself, much better than trying to squeeze into a small tent with all your kit for a week.

Take a reliable stove and test it beforehand. Many hours of entertainment were had watching one of the guys dismantle and attempt to fix his ancient MSR multi fuel stove, in the rain, for about 3 days. We did lend him a stove, but he still insisted on trying to fix his.

Didn't catch any myself but did barter some from a couple of passing kayakers in exchange for some water cooled beers.

It's not difficult to squat from a rock directly into the sea - just don't lose your balance.

Then buy some fish from passing kayakers.......